Promises of Hearth and Home
by Nihatclodra
Summary: Aidan Brandt is a clear-sighted mortal convinced that he hallucinates continuously... only to hear the truth from a Goddess. An unusual promise is made, and a great many things change for Olympus as a result. Meanwhile, the fates have stockpiled popcorn. Not a Self-Insert fic, initially set approximately 16 years before the events of Lightning Thief. Family/Drama/Humour story.
_Welcome to the first fanfic I have ever written alone. I have co-written a few with_ _ **Nightmare723764**_ _, but this is the first time I have not had that crutch. This story literally came to me in a dream… as in I was effectively Aidan in this situation. Obviously this is far more fleshed-out than my dream; but Hestia's adorableness has stayed consistent between the story and said dream. However, this does_ _ **not**_ _mean that this is a self-insert story. I have made sure to avoid making this Self-insert. This will be a Family and Drama story with some Humour thrown into the mix, if I manage to stay consistent in my plan for this story anyway…_

 _I hope you enjoy._

xO*Ox

 ** _Prologue: Promises_**

Hello, my name is Aidan Brandt; Canadian, Male, Caucasian, hazel eyes, long black hair, some Mighty Stubble™, 24 years old, manlet at 5 foot 2 inches, and I swear I didn't take any drugs today.

Maybe the lack of drugs is the problem? I did never get tested after all… hmm…

Nonetheless, I am hallucinating yet again. Yes, I said again; have you **seen** my hallucinations? They're fucking awesome! What with the mythological monsters 'n' shit.

Except this time, I'm hallucinating that a little girl of no more than 8 years old and wearing a toga(?) is stoking a fire in the middle of my studio apartment. Mind you, it's in an old Greek Fire-Bowl thing I bought at a garage sale because it looked awesome, but I was never going to actually light it! I'm in an apartment building for gods' sake!

Hopefully I'm hallucinating the fire too, otherwise I could get kicked out… welp, time to talk to my inner little-girl, I guess. This must be my punishment for having a weakness for cute things… ouch my man-card.

"Hello, little girl… may I ask why you're trying to get me kicked out of my apartment for having a fire going? … Or I would be getting kicked out if the fire alarm was working…? Why isn't it going off right now?" I ask her and myself simultaneously.

The girl turns to me, and looks surprised to see me there, before giving me a warm smile and replying, "Ah, do not worry. This isn't normal fire, so it creates no smoke. As for what I'm doing, well, your home was beginning to feel unwelcoming, so I decided to make it a warm place to live again."

"… Was that a pun?" I ask tentatively. Since when am I clever enough to make puns?

She giggled, "I suppose it was. Now, I suppose I have been a bit rude; entering your home without permission and not even introducing myself…" she began.

"It's fine," I interrupted, "I'm Aidan Brandt, and as a hallucination, you're likely my inner little girl; where all my manliest of squeals come from." I finish, with a nod and manly harrumph.

Once more she giggled, before teasing, "Oh my, I let your home get so unwelcoming that you hallucinate from loneliness? Perhaps I should visit more often."

"Oh great, **that's** why I'm hallucinating? I'm lonely? Well thank you subconscious, for answering that question… now I just have to muster up all my flirting skills from the glorious age of Middle-School when I last had a girlfriend! What was that tried and true pick-up line again…? Oh, yes: 'I have a Nintendo 64 at home, with Mariokart and **2** controllers; wanna make out?', foolproof!" I declare with a flourish.

And this time she actually laughed, though she stifled it quickly after a couple seconds, "Perhaps, but you can work on your pick-up lines at a later time… for now, it's time for me to introduce myself," She said, standing up and performing a curtsy, "I am Hestia, Goddess of Hearth, Home, and Family."

"Wow… I could **hear** the capitalization on that title. And YES!" I exclaimed, "Best Goddess visited me!"

'Hestia' looked both embarrassed and pleased at that, "Best Goddess?" She asked, with a cute slightly confused pout and a tilt of the head.

"Of Course," I reply before elaborating, "Any goddess willing to seek my lowly company is obviously the best goddess ever!"

Hestia smiled warmly before asking with a slight teasing lilt, "Just goddesses? What if a god came to visit instead?"

"A God? … I have some leftovers in the fridge about to go bad, they can have that." I drawled in deadpan.

And once more I made the adorable hallucination – oops, 'Goddess' – giggle, if only I was this smooth with girls in real life, even just the little ones if their hot single moms were nearby. "Oh my, are you sure? They might just take offense to that." She asked with obvious mirth.

"Bah, they'd forgive me once they taste my amazing half-rotten leftovers. They taste like heaven! And may just send you there too if you try eating the ones with black spots!" I declare with a fist-pump.

"I'll keep that in mind in case I need an… interesting… travel method back to Olympus." 'Hestia' joked, amusement twinkling in her large adorable puppy-like eyes. Her help me if she ever actually uses puppy-dog eyes with those things.

I nod my head sagely, before asking, "So, miss 'Goddess', mind if I assume you have all the answers to my questions should I ask them?"

'Hestia' hesitated, before nodding slowly, "I can try at the very least…?"

"Alright, big one out of the way… why are all my hallucinations greek-mythology themed?" I asked, hoping my subconscious will actually answer and let me know. It's been bugging me for a while now, honestly.

She frowned, before answering with her own question, "Are you absolutely sure you want to know? Those 'hallucinations' will be more likely to attack you know what they are, especially if you indicate in any way that you can see them…"

I stop to think a bit on that. Being attacked by hallucinations in public? Fast way to be labeled crazy or a drug-addict, seeing as you would suddenly start dodging and running away from non-existent attacks. But at the same time, if I know what they are; perhaps I can defeat my 'inner monsters' so they stop bothering me! I know Linda from Customer Support is a fat bitch; but hallucinating that she's a cyclops at random times is a bit much…

I nod before speaking with false surety, "I want to know, it would never stop bugging me otherwise, and my curiosity has been known to have me doing stupid shit like poking the big hairy snoring thing near camp… in my defence, that bear was balding enough to look like a particularly hairy lumberjack from behind, and I **was** half-asleep."

Giggling for a split second before becoming serious again, 'Hestia' began, "Very well, I hope you do not regret this choice. What you need to understand is that almost all religions, mythology, and folklore in this world have at least some basis in reality. However, when faced with 'higher beings', Humans have a tendency to rely on them rather than solving their own problems… this results in stagnation of culture and civilization. During a meeting of the many pantheons of the world several millennia ago, it was decided to separate from the humans and leave them to their own devices… for the most part. To do this, Hecate, and various deities of Magic and/or Illusion from every pantheon came together and made the 'Mist'; an illusionary shroud that affects a being's 7 senses, including the spiritual and intuitive senses, that stops humanity from interacting the supernatural aspects of this world.

"However, there are some humans like you, who are what we call 'Clear-Sighted'. A human is clear-sighted when they were a Demigod in their immediate past life. Demi-gods are naturally clear-sighted, and keep small aspects of their abilities in their next lives. Usually they only retain clear-sightedness, but occasionally they will keep other aspects as well. Reincarnated children of Hephaestus, for example, can be born as 'prodigies' at various crafts. This is actually why most Gods have demigods in the first place. While demigods tend to not live very long due to monsters hunting them, I'll get to that in a minute, their next lives tend to be the best leaders and innovators, and contribute the most to the progress of humanity; what the Mist was made to encourage in the first place.

"Now, as for your 'hallucinations', they are the supernatural side of the world… mostly 'monsters' and 'demons'. There's no real difference between monsters and demons, aside from the pantheon they belong to. For now, I'll refer to both as 'Monsters'. Monsters love the taste of divine power, not to mention consuming Ichor makes them stronger, and since gods are too difficult of prey; they go after Demigods to eat them instead. Now, the problem is, Monsters have no real method of telling demigods and clear-sighted humans apart, so they simply eat any humans that they notice can see them. The reason why you mostly see Greek Monsters is simply due to the fact that you are currently closest to the Aesir and Olympian seats of power, and the Aesir have few Monsters small enough to roam cities.

"This is why my telling you this is dangerous, because unless you are good at acting like everything is fine even when it's not, Monsters may notice you deliberately not looking at them. I like you, so I can bless your home as a safe-zone to hide from Monsters so long as you don't allow your hearth to go out, but that's all I can really do for you. Don't worry, I'll ensure the current smokeless flame stays when I leave." She finished her long explanation.

I merely chuckled, "Wow, my mind can certainly come up with some elaborate story settings… maybe I should write a novel?"

'Hestia' merely sighed sadly, before walking over and placing her hands over my right one, "I'm so sorry…" was all she said, before pinching my hand.

I gave out a slight yelp from the sudden unexpected pain, "Ow, what did you do that… for… hallucinations can't touch people or cause accurate pain, can they…?" I ask, worriedly.

"Well… they technically can, but I doubt you are quite that crazy yet." She answers, injecting a bit of humour into the situation.

My brain stalled, I don't know what to think, how to think, or when to think it… ah, shit, there it goes… and here comes the panic…

As I started hyperventilating and shaking, Hestia pulled me down and hugged my head close to her chest and petting my head, "I'm sorry you had to learn this, it's terrible knowledge… but the ancient laws state that any human that asks about the truth of the Mist must be told of it so long as they wish for an answer. I'm sorry, so sorry." She said with a pitying tone.

After a few minutes, I calmed down enough to speak again, "… Hestia?" "Hmm?" "If you're an actual Goddess, then wouldn't you be too busy maintaining your domains to stay at a random home like this for so long?" I ask, honestly curious as well as wanting to get my mind off things.

"Actually, I don't need to go anywhere to complete my duties; it's simply boring to sit still all the time, so I make a point of visiting as many different homes as I possibly can. I just so happened to arrive at yours shortly before you came home today." She replied, once more giving that adorably warm smile.

I stay quiet for a few seconds before replying, "I suppose that makes sense… hey, Hestia… can you do me a favour then?" I ask, hesitantly… Dear Hestia, I'm going to lose my man-card for this…

The Hearth Goddess looked as though she was going to reply, before pausing bemusedly, and then giving me an amused glance. Crap, she heard my man-card thing didn't she? Stupid adorable goddess actually listening to prayers…

"What kind of favor, may I ask?" She asked, eyes full of mirth.

"No, you may not ask. However, I shall inform you anyway!" I reply mock-haughtily and receiving some giggles in response, "Could you… could you stay here a while longer…? I'm in need of some cuddles at the moment." Dear Hest- GODS, dear Gods; I can hear my man-card being shredded as I speak.

She either didn't hear my little prayer, or simply ignored it this time, and gave me a wide motherly smile, "Of course. Take as much time, and cuddles, as you need."

"Oh my," I say scandalously, "Can you really afford to stay with me for decades? I'm truly honoured!"

And yet again the adorable giggles continued their diabetes-inducing rampage, "Well, maybe not **that** long. Wouldn't want my family to start thinking I'm somehow breaking my vow and get jealous." She joked.

"Aww, so I can't keep your adorableness to myself? That sucks… oh well, at least I get cuddles!" I declare, before picking Hestia up, and heading towards the couch where I set her on my lap, and hugged her from behind whilst resting my chin on her head.

She simply turned sideways, and hugged back. We sat there in silence for Hestia-only-knows how long before I fell asleep.

I awoke in the middle of the night on that very couch with a blanket on me. I briefly thought the whole thing to be a dream, until I saw that the fire was still burning in its bowl. Taped to the side of the bowl was a small letter:

 _Dear Aidan,_

 _In case you forgot, I offered to make your home a safe-haven from Monsters, and that safety is tied to this flame. Do not let it go out. The fire is smokeless, and is covered by the "Mist" so normal humans don't notice it. To keep it burning, small daily offerings of food and some wood from a Holly tree each week (only a small branch is needed, though more will strengthen the effect slightly in case of emergencies) will do._

 _And while it doesn't feel very hot, I recommend that you do not poke it. It has a similar ability as your 'black-spotted leftovers'._

 _Love, Hestia_

 _Goddess of Hearth, Home, and Family_

 _P.S. Your stomach growled as I wrote this, and I realized that you likely have not had dinner. I left you a small meal on the table, enjoy._

Well, shit… guess that means that Monsters want to eat me. At least I'm not actually crazy! Says you. Shut up. Aside from that, Hestia's far too kind… a home-cooked meal and shelter? My, my; is she trying to seduce me? Hah! Won't work, my only weakness is the adorableness she has in spades! … Dammit!

Was that a distant giggle I heard…? Nah, I must still be crazy. Yep! I thought I told you to shut up. Welp, guess I should eat then.

Let's see what we have here… Pork-chops, a baked potato, a small loaf of bread, and some water… Basic, but I'm not about to complain about food that a literal Goddess made for me! Wait, didn't that letter say something about offerings of food…

I walk over to my… hearth… and cut/tear some pieces off of everything (yes, even the water. Especially the water! Cut that H2O to shreds! Mwahahaha… not really…) and threw them into the fire… where they promptly exploded into golden dust, that is FUCKING AWESOME! I wanna do it again!

… Tomorrow, I'm not wasting a Goddess-made meal on some temporary entertainment… tempting as it is…

The meal tasted pretty good, very 'like mother used to make'… despite my mother being vegetarian and never making pork-chops… a little disappointing that it wasn't 'heavenly', but I'm not about to complain. I'm normally too poor to have pork-chops regardless.

After eating, I put the dishes in the sink, took a quick shower, and went to bed. Despite having slept through the evening and a good portion of the night, I'm still exhausted.

~3 Weeks Later~

Phew, that was a tough day. 'Linda' seemed to notice me avoiding her, and started flirting with me thinking I liked her and was simply embarrassed… do you have any idea how nerve-racking it is to keep a straight face while a big fat ugly man-eating cyclops is calling you 'Honeypie' and discreetly pushing up her… his… its 'assets'? I deserve a fucking Oscar for that shit.

As I open the door to my apartment I song, "Honey~ I'm hooooooome~" not expecting a reply. Of course, someone replies.

After a short giggle a young girl's voice called out with mocking mirth obvious in the voice, "Welcome home dearest, have a nice day at work?"

I don't think my smile could have gotten any wider. Best Goddess came to visit! Dear Hestia, please thank Hestia for me for sending Hestia to my Hestia-less abode!

Another giggle rang out from the passed the entrance hallway as I made my way down to see her, "Yep, the greatest day at work ever! It's absolutely wonderful having a Cyclops flirting with me all day! Just makes everything fart rainbows and belch pixie-dust!" I exclaim in a perfectly happy, non-sarcastic voice.

Once more delightful little giggles ring out, "Yes, I can imagine."

Now, you may be wondering how I'm speaking to her so easily when before I complained about not being to speak to girls at all… the answer is simple; Hestia's a literal Goddess, and a Virgin Goddess at that… meaning she's so far out of my league I have absolutely zero chance with her. As such, there's no pressure to say the right things to make her like me and not sound like a creep. Also, she looks like a child, so that helps.

As I make my way towards the hearth Hestia is gently tending to, sitting on the small pile of Holly branches and split logs I have set up for it.

"So, what hast mine favorite Goddess come hither to ask of mineself? Hast thou need for a sacrifice; for mine neighbor wouldst not be missed from this building?" I ask jokingly in mock-Shakespearean, probably botched it something fierce.

Holding back another giggle the adorable Goddess replied in kind, "Nay, good sir. We hath cometh to bask in thine witty company, thy neighbor will have to wait… for now."

I grinned at the complement, "Witty am I? Never have I been called such by any but a Goddess! I suppose I was correct in telling those humourless cretins that my humour was simply too advanced for them, for only a true Goddess can truly appreciate my wit in acting like a git!"

"… and suddenly the wit is gone, pity…" Hestia deadpanned with pitying eyes.

I hold my chest in mock-pain, "Ack, my pride, my precious pride! It still had enough worth for a handful of penny-candies, you fiend!"

That one brought a small smirk to her face, "Getting better," she said before turning slightly more serious, though still smiling that trademark warm smile, "So, how have you been since I last saw you? If your Cyclops comment was not a joke, it sounds like you're already having some close calls…"

"… Yeah, I'm managing, but it's hard… I feel like it's only a matter of time before I'm found and eaten, and unfortunately my intuition is very rarely wrong." I reply solemnly, with a forced smirk.

"… Intuition is rarely wrong, huh? That could be a sign of being a child of Apollo or similar deity in your past life… which could be very bad if your intuition is telling you you're going to die soon." Hestia said, a frown marring her face. Honestly, a frowning Hestia just looks unnatural.

"Don't worry; I've come to peace with it. Took out a life-insurance policy with my sister as the main benefactor, and wrote my will. I am curious though, what's the afterlife like? Is it like an amalgamation of all the afterlives of all pantheons, or what?" I ask, genuinely curious.

Hestia gave me a pitying smile before answering, "What pantheon's afterlife you go to depends on what pantheon you worship… or whichever pantheon's seat of power you live closest to if you happen to worship a false pantheon, or are simply Atheist or Agnostic. The Olympian Seat of Power is based in New York City, for example. Before you started worshiping me as your main deity, thanks for that by the way, you were bound to find yourself in either Helheim or Valhalla due to the Aesir seat of power being in Yellowknife, depending on how you died. Had you died fighting a Monster and actually manage to at least damage said Monster in battle; you would have just squeezed in to Valhalla… barely. Now however, you are likely to find yourself in the Fields of Asphodel."

"You mean I could have been drinking mead and learning how to fight like a badass Viking in the afterlife, and now I'm just going to be a wandering spirit of the masses in eternal boredom until I suck it up, and erase all that I am to start a new life… well, that kind of sucks…" I respond, disappointed at the lost opportunity.

"Yeah… you can blame the Underworld Union for that one. They refuse to put any work into Fields of Asphodel to make it better, because there's simply too many spirits staying there to keep track of. The Olympian Pantheon is the main pantheon of North America, due to a particularly lucrative poker tournament a few centuries back – courtesy of Tyche – for choosing who gets what as their seat of power in the new era, and with North America also being one of the most atheist-filled areas of the world **and** the Christian god actually being Chaos from our pantheon – he got bored one day and 'made his own pantheon; with wings, and prostitutes', nevermind that we were already 'his' pantheon… he also never bothered to make an actual afterlife for Christianity, Heaven being for himself and his hand-servants, and Hell for the Demons – and… well… we get a lot. Simply put, they make the afterlife as unappealing as possible, in hopes that souls will leave to be reincarnated faster; and thus require less paperwork." Hestia explained before adding, "And besides, you only had a **small** chance to go to Valhalla. There was a much greater chance of your going to Helheim; where you would suffer freezing cold and endless hunger until the end of days, with no chance of reincarnation."

I thought about it for a few seconds… and yes, I absolutely do not want to end up in Helheim, "I see, thank you for explaining that for me."

"It was no problem." She replied with a small smile.

Silence reigned as she said nothing, and I worked up the courage to ask something crazy. **Really** crazy. Crazy enough that I wouldn't have even considered it if my gut wasn't telling me that I absolutely had to do so… maybe I should confirm that there's actually a possibility for it being relevant first?

"Hestia, you mentioned last time about Monsters liking to eat Demigods… but I know in some pantheons there are 'Demons' that eat souls… is that actually a thing that happens?" I ask, hesitantly.

Hestia frowned hard, and seems to be glaring at the distance behind the walls, "Yes, Chaos got drunk one day and thought it would be a good idea to have a 'clean-up' crew of immortal soul-eaters to help erase all traces of this universe once it finally died… he didn't account for his favorite hand-servant Lucifer to attempt a coup-d'état after seducing his 'cleaners' with a silver tongue into helping him. Chaos created a new realm for them to be imprisoned in, but just like Tartarus, they find ways to escape occasionally. Chaos' love of underdogs and the remote possibility of someone being dragged into Hell or Tartarus against their will and trying to escape insures that he will **always** have some overly-convoluted way of escaping those realms, usually involving copious amounts of fighting, blood, and puzzles. One human named Dante actually managed to escape Hell in this way, impressively enough, and now has Lucifer's old job as Chaos' favorite hand-servant. I also heard that he has been renamed 'Michael' due to Chaos' personal preference… sorry, I went on a bit of a tangent there; yes, soul-eating Monsters do exist, though they are far more rare than regular Monsters."

Interesting insight into Christianity aside, that's fucking terrifying… that means my intuition could be on to something with what it wants me to ask Hestia for… shit. Welp, like a band-aid I suppose.

Taking a deep breath, I look the greatest goddess I have ever met in the eyes and said seriously, "Hestia, if that is true, then my intuition demands that I ask something very odd of you…" I trail off, **really** not wanting to say it.

Hestia stares back at me unblinkingly with a confused but determined look on her face, "Yes?" she asks warily.

I sigh, before continuing, "Hestia, should there ever be a time where my soul has been destroyed beyond any hope of reincarnation for any reason," I take a deep breath for this next part, "I want **you** to do it. I want you to eat all you can of my soul. It's better for you to get it than any soul-sucking hellspawn."

The Goddess of Hearth, Home, and Family just sat there; silent, wide-eyed, and jaw gaping far wider than should be possible… it'd be hilarious if the air wasn't so tense.

She seemed to shudder, before taking a deep breath, and asking as calmly as she could, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU JUST ASKED ME TO DO!? THE RAMIFICATIONS OF IT!? THE ANCIENT LAWS FORBID ANY GODS ACCEPING AN EXCHANGE FOR A BEING'S SOUL! IT JUST ISN'T DONE EXCEPT BY THOSE DRUNKEN STUPOR-SPAWN OF CHAOS'! HOW COULD YOU EVEN ASK ME SUCH A THING!?" which is to say, not at all.

"I was not aware of that 'Ancient Law', being human and all, but I'm not asking for anything for my soul; just that if it's destroyed beyond repair for some reason, and cannot do anything except be eaten or fade into nothing, I want you to make use of it. At least that way my soul wouldn't disappear in vain. And let's be honest; how often does one's very soul become **that** damaged anyway…?" I reason, trying to calm her down.

"… not that often, but that's still a rather reckless thing to ask of me; even if the way you're going about it technically falls under a loophole. Not only that, but this is only our 2nd meeting, we're barely friends at this point, if that… and this is a big thing to ask." Hestia explains, with a slightly rabid twitch in her left eye.

"I get that, but my intuition is screaming at me to get you to promise to do so, so I decided to get it out of the way early rather than being constantly awkward while speaking to you because I'm trying to ignore my instincts." I explain calmly, hoping my favorite goddess will follow suit.

Hestia closes her eyes and takes several long deep breaths, left eye still twitching all the while, before she attempts to calmly ask, "Are you absolutely sure you want this? Such a promise has never been made before, by any deity that I know of."

I simply smile mirthfully, "I'm pretty sure my intuition would bite my head off if I didn't."

Hestia sighed and muttered under her breath barely loud enough to hear, "And if I'm right, your intuition has a pretty good chance of being right… I finally found a potential new friend too… stupid fates and their love of drama and tragedies…" it almost sounded like thunder roared in the distance for a second, but it was probably just my imagination, "Fine, I have a feeling the fates would just make me the focus of their games if I didn't play along and say yes." She finally said, resignedly.

I sigh in relief as the mild headache my intuition was giving me fades away, "Thank you… on an unrelated note, the pantheons had a poker tournament to decide who got which seats of power? I thought Poker wasn't even invented yet a few centuries ago…"

Hestia looked glad at the change in topic, "Many pantheons have gods of time, the future, or similar domains… we asked them to look through the ages to find a good method to decide without things devolving into a fighting tournament like the last time… or a literal dick-measuring competition the time before that. Zeus is still sore about being the smallest of the pantheon leaders, and that is actually what lead to Greece having small genitalia as a status symbol." She finished with mirth; she must have added that last tidbit to help lighten the mood from the previous subject.

"Okay, that's hilarious. Hey, Hestia; if you're planning on sticking around for a while, wanna play some videogames?" I ask, attempting to stop chuckling. Honestly, the mental image of Hestia playing Mortal Kombat is too good to pass up.

"Sure, though I should probably warn you that the only games I've played are Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, and a few pokemon games." She replies.

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." I chuckle, as I go set up my PS2.

~4 years later~

Aidan and Hestia met up once or twice a month since the day of the promise, and had mostly forgotten about it. They laughed, they cried, they laughed until they cried, and Hestia would not stop killing Aidan in Halo 2. Seriously; ejecting out of a Banshee, fragging you with a Plasma Grenade, and then re-entering the banshee before it hits the ground is bullshit.

They watched Movies and TV Shows, played a lot of videogames, Aidan lost control and lost his newly reinstated man-card for cuddling the divine bundle of diabetes, they did many things an amateur author has no patience for fleshing out, and they became very good friends.

And they **only** became friends; because honestly, she's a Virgin Goddess. Simply being friendly and flirting a bit isn't going to make her break a vow she's kept for thousands of years.

Now, in present day, Hestia was tending to the Olympian Throne Room's hearth during the Winter Solstice meeting, trying her best to ignore as her family bickered around her like children. She wasn't even sure what it was about this time, something about Aphrodite turning a hunter lesbian? Wouldn't be the first time…

She knew she was tempting the fates, but she couldn't stop herself from wishing she was currently in Aidan's amusing company.

Unfortunately, Atropos has been waiting all week for that exact thought. Oh how she loves granting people what they want in the worst of ways. She also enjoys being called by the name of her first Demigod son "Murphy".

Nary 10 minutes later, Hestia suddenly stood ramrod-straight with a gasp and wide eyes. Silence reigned in the throne room as all the Olympians turned towards her. Zeus was about to ask what was wrong when Hestia suddenly blurted out, "Igottagofriendintroublemighthaveafatesbedamnedpromisetokeepbebacksoonbye!"

As she disappeared, one thought filled all the Olympian's heads, _'What in Tartarus just happened?'_

~Meanwhile, in the streets of Vancouver~

Hestia appeared in a flash on the rooftop of a building. She could hear growls and a man's heavy breathing in the alleyway off to the side of the building. As she ran over to look, she caught the end of the battle. Aidan getting his throat slit by wicked claws and a Belphegor, a wolf-like soul-eating demon with bat wings and a taste for lazy human's souls, finding itself with a bleeding gash blinding it in its left eye. Tears form in her eyes as she watched Aidan die, but the Ancient Laws forbid interfering with Monsters attacking **living** prey. She had to time things just right, and kill the demon the instant Aidan dies before he can be devoured. If she succeeds, she won't have to go through with that fates-be-damned promise.

 _'Concentrate… concentrate… 6 heartbeats left… 5… 4… 3… 2- Tartarus damn it, I misjudged!'_ she leapt down on top of the demon as fast as she could, intent on killing it.

Unfortunately, Hestia is unaware of the nuances of advanced combat… such as sensing killing intent, or listening to the wind for incoming projectiles… nuances the Belphegor were well acquainted with. The wolf-like demon lunged forward, grasping the just-released soul in its mouth and landing 2 meters ahead of Hestia as she landed. The Belphegor knew it was screwed, acquainted with combat or not Hestia was a powerful Goddess, so it didn't move a muscle, looking for some way to turn things to its advantage… or at least spite the Goddess enough that its superiors wouldn't simply eat it for its failure.

Unfortunately for Hestia, she was also unaccustomed with the spitefulness of demons, especially the soul-eaters.

"Give me the soul, unharmed, and I will let you have a 10 second head-start." She said, unaware of how badly she fumbled.

The demon however grinned nastily, " **UNHARMED, YOU SAY? … SORRY, THAT'S NOT IN MY VOCABULARY.** " And bit down on the soul and used its claws to tear the rest not in its mouth to shreds. It swallowed the small piece of soul before being stabbed-through with a fire-lance. The damage was done, however, and the demon laughed as it turned to dust.

Tears crawled down Hestia's cheeks as she hastily collected all the pieces of soul she could, using her power to stop them from immediately fading. By the time she was done, only two-thirds of it remained, and the rest refused to meld back together… it was irreparable.

"Dammit Aidan, why did you have to be prophetic; why couldn't you just be crazy and paranoid!? At least we could have laughed at that…" The Goddess complained. She wanted to complain more, to grieve longer, but her power would only stop the fading for so long, and she had the worst possible promise to keep.

Compressing her power around the pieces, she shrunk them down to the size of a marble; far easier to handle for this. She took once last deep breath, popped it in her mouth, and swallowed.

She immediately flashed back to her temple on Olympus, and cried her heart out.

~Inside Hestia~

Normally, when a soul is eaten; it is broken down into pure energy, and assimilated into the being that ate it and makes them stronger. Normally, when a soul is eaten, it is done with the intent to do exactly this.

This was not a normal event. Hestia did not want to make Aidan fade, even if she knew intellectually that he would have faded anyway. As her body hesitated in absorbing the foreign power, her immortality sensed damage, and sent essence to fix it… only the damage wasn't Hestia's. Hestia's essence reached the soul shards, and fused with them to fix the perceived damage… making a patchwork soul of Aiden's remains and Hestia's godly power. Now recognizing the foreign power as belonging to Hestia, her body no longer saw need to assimilate it.

Now, one other part of Hestia's body noticed the newly patchwork'd soul, and got to work on something that normally would never happen in Hestia's body. After all, there's only one natural way 2 souls would exist in a single body, especially with the 2nd soul being reminiscent of the 1st.

Pregnancy.

xO*Ox

 _And that's the Prologue. Please tell me what you think, feedback of ALL kinds is what motivates me the most… and I have major problems with Motivation. Please review as much as you can, even if just to tell me to get to work on the next chapter._

 _With the Madness needed to Prosper,_ _ **Nihatclodra**_ _._


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